The winner of Kremlin

Vladimir Putin, the outgoing president of the Russia, has once again registered a victory in the form of a stupendous success for his party United Russia, in the parliamentary elections of his country. The questions raised on the manner in which this triumph has come can easily be compensated off by Russian public as a whole with the achievements of the Putin in the last eight years in the office. These questions also, it might be pointed out, have been moved up only by some western countries, US being chief among them. The demand for an independent enquiry into the allegations of irregularities in electoral process put forward by the US gives only the hint of the extent to which it is wary of Putin.

By contrast, Putin has relished this victory with élan. He has not bothered himself with answering these demands and instead focusing on the future course of his action. Though he has exhibited joy in view of this victory, he has in his peculiar manner not gone overboard. He know his business well and he has just implied that he is going to do just that. Whether he will like to effect a change in the constitution and be a president for the third time, or will he wield his power by remaining behind the veil is to an open question. What one is sure of is that he has been rewarded for his spectacular accomplishment in bringing Russia to the brink of its former glory of a Superpower.

When Putin took charge of the presidency in from Boris Yeltsin, land of Russia was nothing more than chaos. People were forced to stand in queues for their daily meal and industry had came to a standstill. As if it was not enough, Russia’s position in the international community was also diminishing. Old friends like India were looking the other way in the garb of globalization and new allies were hard to come by. The economic reforms started by Yeltsin regime had severely affected Russia and people were suspicious of any new move in that direction. Topping the list was the problem of separatism and terrorism, especially in Chechnya.

V. Putin, as he is referred to in the Russian media, showed guts and resolve to solve many, if not all the problems facing his country. One can recount how he managed to face hostage crisis in Moscow and Beslan, even sacrificing some lives for the integrity of the nation. On the economic front, not all of the credit goes to him, but the fact remains that he has used his resources so well, that today Russia does not look so impoverished as it looked not long ago. Instances can be counted when he has looked eye to eye with US or any other western country and scored a point or two.

Here is one. Circa 2002. The then US Secretary of State is on Russia’s official visit. After two days of talks and meetings, he speaks all the good things and says, in the course of one of his briefings, that US does not want any country to help Iran. Within hours, Russia’s ministry of energy declares it will help Iran build a reactor at Bushehr for electricity generation. The only thing US could do was to issue a statement deploring this decision.

These and other aspects have made Mr. Putin a conqueror. He has won his battles from the days in the KGB. He won them in Kremlin. Now he has won the hearts of his fellow countryman. A great achievement indeed!